Two weeks ago as our team was wrapping up the January/February issue of Pellet Mill Magazine and I was trying to wrap up a short department on a coal-fired power station in northern England. Industry observers, any that read Biomass Magazine and Pellet Mill Magazine at any rate, have been hearing about the Lynemouth Power Station.
Two weeks ago, however, most of my outbound efforts to contact anyone at Lynemouth were not successful. As we got closer to our production date, I learned the reason for the radio silence. The Lynemouth Power Station had been<a href="http://www.biomassmagazine.com/articles/12756/czech-utility-buys-uk-based-lynemouth-power-station"> purchased from RWE Supply and Trading by a EPH (Energetick&yacute; a prumyslov&yacute; holding) a Czechoslovakian utility</a>.&nbsp;
Candidly, until that moment, I had never heard of EPH. Since the Lynemouth announcement, however, I&rsquo;ve been thinking a lot about them. More accurately, I&rsquo;ve been thinking about what their investment in Lynemouth means.
Lynemouth, I&rsquo;ve learned is not the first power generation acquisition EPH has made in the United Kingdom. In May of 2014, the company purchased the power plant at Eggborough, a 2000 MW facility that for a period of time was hoping to join Drax as big-time generators of biomass derived electric power. For now, it doesn&rsquo;t appear that a transition at Eggborough is likely. In September, EPH announced that it would <a href="http://www.biomassmagazine.com/articles/12356/eggborough-power-station-to-close-biomass-not-an-option">not continue pursuing a full conversion of Eggborough</a> to biomass and the plant would close. &nbsp;This decision was met with disappointment across the industry. &nbsp;Initially, Eggborough looked as though it would receive government support, but ultimately the plant fell of the list of projects that the government had deemed provisionally affordable.
In the context of that, the decision by EPH to procure Lynemouth makes sense. In press releases EPH has indicated an interest in developing a presence in the United Kingdom. The conversion of Lynemouth has made it through every evaluation step by both DECC and the European Commission. Seeing this, EPH no doubt saw another chance to buy a power generation asset in a market it coveted. It also says something about the confidence EPH has in the contracts for difference (CfD) subsidy program the British government is using to support these transitions as well as the final decision by the European Union about government support aligning with EU state aid rules.
EPH has our team&rsquo;s attention and we will be working to establish contacts within EPH to better understand their strategy, their timeline for Lynemouth and when the new demand&rsquo;s impact on the industrial wood pellet market might begin to be felt.
&nbsp;

After a purchase and convert strategy for Eggborough failed for Czech utility EPH, the company tries the strategy again at Lynemouth and has the full attention of the wood pellet industry as a result, or should. 

EPH Is on Our Radar

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Upcoming Events

2024 International Fuel Ethanol Workshop & Expo

Biodiesel Summit: Sustainable Aviation Fuel & Renewable Diesel

Carbon Capture & Storage Summit

North American SAF Conference & Expo

RNG Conference

EPH Is on Our Radar